ATSC 3.0

While conversations between broadcasters and car makers are just starting, ATSC 3.0 proponents say that given the three-to-five-year build cycle of a typical new model it’s crucial to get 3.0 receiver chips into car makers’ design plans by next spring so they’re ready to roll in 2024, by which time next-gen stations will be broadcasting across the U.S.

There may be a big silver lining to Sinclair’s loss of its proposed merger with Tribune. In its wake the group has shifted its strategy from TV station acquisition to nonbroadcast ventures like regional sports networks, OTT services and possibly some kind of national news service. And it’s continuing to lead the way toward ATSC 3.0, which it is convinced will multiply the value of broadcast spots through targeting, and enable lucrative new businesses like datacasting.

In a rare cross-industry exercise to plan for how some burgeoning new technologies — 5G and ATSC 3.0 — might impact the advertising and media industry, a consortium backed by Fox today will release a white paper summing up a variety of scenarios to help advertisers, agencies and media suppliers prepare for the future.

A consortium of station groups pledges to launch the new next-gen transmission standard in top markets by the end of next year. But while broadcasters seem to have found consensus on how to get 3.0 signals on-air, their long-term plans for business models are still unclear. And there are also some tough decisions broadcasters will need to make about what kind of single frequency network they need to build out.

At the Phoenix Model Market next-gen TV pilot project, Comscore, Kantar Media, Nielsen, Verance and Yotta Media Labs are studying how ATSC 3.0 can provide broadcasters with more granular and more actionable information since it offers many measurement options.